The Lone Star Conference Championship chase

Belle Soccer earns share of conference title

Photo by Axel Marcenaro
Avery McNeme, freshman, fights to keep the ball in bounds and out of MSU’s control. McNeme took three shots against MSU.

The soccer team got at least a share of the 2017 Lone Star Conference regular season championship on Sunday with a 3-2 upset over Midwestern State.

The Belles are now 11-2-1 on the season and 8-1-1 in the LSC play.

This is the third time the team has won at least a share of the conference title.

Junior forward Cassandra Moosburger scored the first goal with a pass from senior forward Trenadey Scott after 13 minutes of the game.

This was Moosburger’s sixth goal of the season putting her in a tie for third place in the LSC in total goals; it was also Scott’s fourth assist tying her for first on the team.

The team had 26 shots in the game, 16 on the goal, making it the second highest single-game total of the season.

Head coach Travis McCorkle said the first goal was a great run from Moosburger to open up herself and give Scott a better passing lane to pass to her.

"We’ve been talking about her finishing, staying balanced and placing the shot I thought she did a great job with the first goal," McCorkle said.

Sophomore forward Ally Warren scored the second and third goals for the Belles for the win.

"He always talks about how every minute counts and it takes about one second for someone to make a difference on the field," Warren said. "I went out there and I proved him right on that."

McCorkle said Warren’s goals come from work.

"We’ve been talking with her, she’s been wanting to score more and make a bigger impact," McCorkle said. "I just talked to her on Thursday and said ‘listen, you got to work if you want good things to happen it comes through work’."

McCorkle said she put herself in a couple great situations in Sundays game.

"...Gets two goals, the game winner in there so good for her," McCorkle said.

McCorkle said the game was a good result overall.

"I thought Midwestern put a lot of pressure on us although in the end it doesn’t look like it with the shots but they put themselves in really dangerous spots," McCorkle said.

McCorkle said he thought the defense for the most part did a good job.

"I thought the team did well handling the pressure from Midwestern," McCorkle said.

McCorkle said they did a good job putting themselves in a good opportunity to win the game.

"It puts us in a great spot moving forward," McCorkle said. "So again, you beat a great team that’s ranked above you in the nation rankings and make sure you can hold that advantage moving into the postseason."

McCorkle said they focused on two words this week, hunger and humility.

"We need to make sure we are hungry to win the conference and again never be looking at rankings and thinking we made it," McCorkle said. "Those rankings don’t mean anything until you make it to the conference tournament."

The belles will be at home this Friday facing Texas Woman’s University at 7 p.m. and again on Sunday at 1 p.m. facing Texas A&M Commerce.